On Thursday, 13 June, the INC began by discussing its recommendations to the Extraordinary FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference scheduled for November 2013, including delegations' preferences regarding: which organization to invite to adopt the convention; who should act as depositary and open the convention for signature; which body or bodies should host the interim secretariat; and which body or bodies should elaborate the arrangements for the permanent secretariat.

The plenary then heard and discussed a report by contact group facilitator Throstur Eysteinsson, Iceland. Delegates agreed to, inter alia: delete "UNECE-FAO" in the title; replace the expression "agreement" throughout the text with "convention"; remove brackets from and agree ad referendum the preamble, article 1 (terms and definitions), article 4 (general provisions) and article 8 (forest biodiversity); and replace "assess" with "assess or analyze" in article 11 (monitoring and reporting). The plenary also agreed to a number of changes suggested by the contact group on articles 12 (COP), 14 (Secretariat) and 15 (compliance).

In the afternoon, two groups met in parallel. One, a contact group facilitated by Liubov Poliakova, Ukraine, sought to produce compromises on the recommendations to be presented to the Ministerial Conference. The other, facilitated by Stephen Lowe, UK, combined a contact group with the Legal Expert Group and sought to clean up the "final clauses" (articles 16-26).

The plenary reconvened briefly at 5:40pm to hear progress reports from the two groups. Chair Heino then announced that he would hold another round of informal consultations on institutional issues during the dinner period and then chair a contact group that would start work at 9 PM to attempt to resolve all outstanding issues in the draft negotiating text. The second contact group on recommendations to the Ministerial Conference was also scheduled to resume its work at 8 PM.

Chair Heino (center) opened the plenary discussion on presenting the INC’s results to the Extraordinary Ministerial Conference. (photo courtesy of the INC-Forests Secretariat)

Contact group facilitator Throstur Eysteinsson, Iceland, reports on the group's deliberations on articles 1-15. (photo courtesy of the INC-Forests Secretariat)

Stephen Lowe, UK, facilitated the joint session of the contact group and Legal Expert Group. (photo courtesy of the INC-Forests Secretariat)

Marat Berdyev, Russian Federation, intervenes in the plenary discussion on the presentation of the INC’s results to the Ministerial Conference. (photo courtesy of the INC-Forests Secretariat)

In the afternoon the contact group and Legal Expert Group met jointly to reach compromises and clean text in the final clauses (articles 16-26) of the draft convention.

Delegates in the contact group on the presentation of the INC’s results to the Ministerial Conference (photo courtesy of the INC-Forests Secretariat)

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